liuzhou

I do indeed; in fact almost exclusively. I'm never without it, but then I use a lot of garlic. Known as 独蒜 (dú suàn - literally 'alone garlic'), it is, I'm told, native to Yunnan province, but widely grown in Sichuan and elsewhere today. It ís easy to peel and for me one bulb = one clove is (usually) the perfect amount for one dish. It is becoming easy to find in the west, I've heard. I remember @Anna N saying she had found it in Canada and I've seen it in London's Chinatown. P.S. It makes excellent black garlic, too. Reserve me a room in that supermarket, too please! Thanks for the detailed account. Fascinating.

Some milkmen put in more determination than others.

I tend not to favour explaining jokes. Exegesis tends to destroy the humour. However, in this case I'd say the mutual incongruity of the two requirements in one person is the humour.

I remember milkmen offering eggs, but not other groceries. There was a grocer's van which came around later in the day selling bread and a limited selection of vegetalbles, fruit and meat. Sugar and other basics. Then the fish van came by; not every day, though. My family bought anything else from a small shop nearby, giving the owner a list and picking it in boxes up later in the day. The list was almost the same every week. There was no supermarket in town until a few years after I left for London and university at 18.

Home made burger with chips.

There was a stage of my life in which I knew beyond doubt that my career path was to be a milky, driving my cart around the streets in the early hours of the morning ensuring that everyone woke up to find pint bottles of fresh cow juice on their doorsteps. I think I was five-years-old. Somehow I was diverted from that path. Still not sure it was a bad idea. Do they still exist anywhere? 1923 ‘R. Crompton’ William Again xii. 203 ‘'Ello, kids!’ said the milk-boy.‥ ‘'Ello, Milky!’

The image is from my local delivery app. I suspect those may be dried. The size is difficult to judge without any real scale. I might order some tomorrow just to check (they're very cheap). They also sell them fresh alongside the root (horseradish-like) , the seeds, seedlings and processed capsules for medicinal use. I'll give them a miss.

Same for Vietnamese đồng, as I'm sure you know.

That really did make me laugh out loud, something I rarely do alone at home. Made my day! Moringa is common here. It's called 辣木 (là mù), meaning 'chilli spicy wood' and widely used in TCM as well as in cooking, especially the leaves.

Well, can they?

This is widely available here under the name Tragacanth Gum. Pretty expensive in local terms though, at ¥176 per 100g ($24.22 / 100g USD). Those with local Chinese markets or stores might find it there under any of these names 黃蓍膠；膠黃；龍須膠. My favourite is the last; it literally means 'Dragon's Beard Gum'. I've never used the stuff, so can't comment on its efficacy.

Both. Some of the many milk tea places in town do supply them, but I've also see people carrying them, usually girls with their handbags. They're not that difficult to clean. Also they are cheap to make (mine cost $1 USD but that was retail) but reusable, saving money in the long term. Non-disposable is becoming a buzzword here in recent years.

It wouldn't work with congee unless the congee was super thin and then you'd be sucking up the water the rice was cooked in. (Although the original meaning of the word 'congee' is derived from, the Tamil kañji, did refer to that water. Normal 'rice gruel' is too thick.

Drinking. Fat straw are available to go, but it's more of an in-store activity here.

The straw is used to drink the liquid element and the spoon to pick out the tapioca balls. Yes it is also often served with "fat straws" for those who choose to suck up bubbles.

I thought everyone did that. Unless it's a restaurant which knows how to serve cheese.

His Japanese is a bit suspect. むすび or 結び(musubi) actually means 'conclusion'. It has been used to describe a type of knot used to tie (conclude) various food wrappers etc and also sometimes refers to rice balls stuffed with various fillings and tied with a knot of nori. In that usage it is a synonym for the more usual o-nigiri (おにぎり). I hope his cooking is better than his Japanese etymology! 😀

The desecration continues apace. I came across these on my food delivery app today. No! I didn't order them! I wouldn't want them to think it's a good idea. Luosifen Bao Buns. Yes. Take a bowl of noodles and shove the contents inside a steamed bun, but first dye said bun lurid red using food dye. I'm struggling to think of anything worse!

Whether my bubble tea spoon is based on a yerba maté spoon or was invented independently is really irrelevant. Tools have been reinvented over and over by different cultures, often for different purposes. I have a number of teaspoons but rarely drink tea and never use a teaspoon when I do. I could use the thing for many purposes including stirring my breakfast G&T! Given the massive culture of boba tea drinking all over China, it is fair to say that more of these spoons are used in tea drinking than in yerba maté production. Even if only 10% of Chinese tea drinkers use them that is three times more than the entire population of Argentina. And that’s not taking into account the boba tea drinkers elsewhere in Asia and beyond. All that matters here is that the spoons are sold here as being for milk and boba tea and I see people using them every day.

I've been to restaurants like that!